


Basilisk

by rustbunny



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Age Difference, Alien Biology, Come Marking, Extremely Dubious Consent, M/M, Mind Control, Mistaken Identity, Oral Sex, Rape/Non-con Elements, Rare Pairings, References to Prostitution, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 05:59:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29945526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rustbunny/pseuds/rustbunny
Summary: When an investigation leads him deep into the lower levels of Coruscant, Obi-Wan Kenobi has a close encounter with the spawn of Darth Sidious.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Triclops
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	Basilisk

**Author's Note:**

> So, my original plan to write a ‘Lovecraftian’ horror/detective story starring Obi-Wan went a little bit off the rails.

“Anakin, I’m a little busy at the moment," Obi-Wan whispered into his comm unit, casting a wary eye over his shoulder. 

He crept down the narrow hallway, sticking to the shadows, then ducked into a supply closet, stepping over a broken-down custodian droid on the floor. 

_"Obi-Wan?"_ Anakin's voice came through in a burst of static. _"I've been trying to reach you."_

"Yes," Obi-Wan sighed, "I noticed." His comm had been beeping incessantly for the past several minuets. "I'm supposed to be undercover, you know."

_“Where are you? I can barely hear you,”_ Anakin complained.

Obi-Wan straightened up and took stock of his surroundings. He was in a dingy supply closet on the upper floor of an empty, rundown apartment complex. But rather than say all that, he simply responded with: “I’m in the lower levels.”

_"The lower levels? Why? What are you--"_ Anakin's voice wavered in and out. _"Obi-Wan?"_

Obi-Wan hesitated to respond. He hated to lie to Anakin, but he couldn't risk telling him the truth.

\--And, to be quite honest, Obi-Wan was a little embarrassed to be caught prowling around in the dark like some _sleemo_ , as Ahsoka would say.

_"Obi-Wan? Are you there?"_

"I'm here."

_"What are you doing down there?"_

He was trespassing on private property, that’s what he was doing. More than that, he was conspiring against the democratically elected leader of the Republic by helping to conduct an illegal investigation.

Despite appearances, the ramshackle apartment complex was not so abandoned. It was actually owned and maintained by Sheev Palpatine, of all people. Why, exactly, the Chancellor paid to upkeep a seemingly empty old building in the bowels of the Coruscanti underworld…

Well, that was what Obi-Wan was meant to find out.

He knew the Council was getting desperate. But even _if_ Palpatine was in league with the Sith--as the Council increasingly believed--Sidious was obviously quite capable of covering his tracks. Obi-Wan would be very surprised if he stumbled over any Sith Holocrons in his search. 

At most he expected to find a room full of stolen artwork, knowing what he did of the Chancellor's tastes.

_"Obi-Wan? What are you--"_

"Council business, Anakin. I won't bore you." 

The comm rattled with the sound of Anakin's heavy breathing. 

_"Fine,"_ the boy grunted in reply. _"Don’t tell me."_

"Its nothing terribly exciting," Obi-Wan assured him, lowering his voice. "But if you must know, I'm helping Master Windu with his investigation."

In fact, Mace had personally asked Obi-Wan to scout out the old building. The Karun Master had been doing his own detective work on the side, digging into Palpatine's past, his business dealings, scouring the Royal Archive of Naboo. 

Obi-Wan didn’t know the details, but apparently Palpatine had inherited the apartment complex from one Hego Damask, along with the Muun’s various other lands and holdings.

_" What investigation?"_

Obi-Wan was silent for a beat. “His investigation into Darth Sidious," he finally relented.

_“You mean his investigation into the Chancellor,"_ Anakin shot back. 

"Anakin, listen to me." He did not want to have this argument here, of all places. "We know Sidious is hiding in the senate. He could be any-- _"_

_"So what are you doing in the lower levels? If_ _Sidious is in the senate, maybe you should start looking there."_

That was a fair point. What _was_ he doing here? What was he supposed to find? 

Obi-Wan had already swept the lobby, the basement, and the lower floors. So far, his search hadn't turned up much of anything, just broken glass, empty hallways, and a few burnt-out protocol droids.

_"I don't like this,"_ Anakin intoned. 

"Neither do I," Obi-Wan said truthfully. As much as he didn't trust Palpatine, the man was still the Supreme Chancellor. The Jedi really had no cause to accuse him of anything. But, as Mace said, desperate times called for desperate measures. 

If Sidious was hiding among the Chancellor's inner circle, the Jedi had to act swiftly. 

But in order to do that, they needed proof. 

"I have a few more rooms to search," Obi-Wan added, sticking his head out the door to peer down the hall. "I expect I'll be back rather late."

He was deep in the lower levels. The journey back to the surface would be a long one. 

_"Just call me if you run into trouble."_

Obi-Wan scoffed at that, "Unlike some, I don't go looking for trouble."

But trouble did have a way of finding him. It stepped out of the shadows as Obi-Wan neared the end of the hall and greeted him with a polite, "Hello."

Obi-Wan stopped short, staring in disbelief at the pale, ashen-haired boy who had appeared out of nowhere. 

An Umbaran? That might explain how the boy had snuck up on him. Telepaths were often difficult to sense. This one in particular. His Force presence was eerily faint, and somehow familiar...

"I thought I heard voices," the boy said. He went very still, poised as if listening for something, then asked, "Did you come alone?" 

Obi-Wan was not about to answer that question. 

The boy carried on with a small shrug, flitting his gaze up and down the hall as he spoke, “I deactivated the droids, just in case. I was afraid they might attack you."

Obi-Wan shifted uneasily, tugging his collar up when the boy turned to face him with a bright, curious stare. He did not sense any danger, but he was worried the boy might recognize him. And then what? 

He pulled his jacket tighter around his shoulders and checked to make sure his lightsaber was tucked out of sight.

\--At least he'd had the good sense to dress in plain civilian wear. 

Then, recalling what the boy had said about the droids, he muttered a quick "thank you". 

The boy simply nodded. Dressed for bed, he wore a richly embroidered robe over a pair of dark shimmersilk pajamas. His clothes were very fine, and this made his presence in the derelict apartment building all the more strange. 

"Who are you?" He took another shy step forward. "Did my father send you?"

Obi-Wan began to speak, "Your father..." But the words died on his lips when he noticed what appeared to be a large, wet growth in the middle of the boy's forehead. He tried to look away, so as not to seem rude, but he could only stare at the iridescent tumor, transfixed.

Finally, the tumor _blinked,_ and Obi-Wan regained his senses. 

Not a tumor at all, he realized, but an eye: a third eye with an almost pink, pearly-white iris. 

“Does it offend you?" The boy asked.

The question was phrased so softly that Obi-Wan almost missed it. 

"No." Obi-Wan had seen far stranger things. "But I confess, I've never met a three-eyed Umbaran before."

"I'm only half-Umbaran," the boy replied, somewhat testily. "My father is human, of course."

Obi-Wan suddenly remembered what he had been about to say. 

"Your father is Chancellor Palpatine?" Obi-Wan could see the resemblance despite the boy's half-alien heritage. So... this is what Palpatine was hiding. Interesting, perhaps even scandalous, and certainly _not_ what Obi-Wan had been expecting to find. "I didn't realize he had any children."

“My father is ashamed of me." The boy tightened his robe with a grimace. "He makes it a point to keep my existence a secret."

Obi-Wan considered this carefully. “Ashamed? Why do you say that?” Then, when the boy didn't seem inclined to answer, he asked, “What is your name?” 

He wanted to keep him talking. Perhaps there was something the boy could tell him. 

“My mother named me," the boy said, lowering his gaze to the broken tiled floor. His third-eye fluttered open to keep Obi-Wan in his sight. It seemed to move independently of the other two. "You wouldn’t be able to pronounce it. My father calls me Triclops.”

Obi-Wan pursed his lips. That seemed rather cruel.

“Your mother? Who was she?”

Sly Moore? Or did the Chancellor have another Umbaran mistress?

Triclops shook his head. "It doesn't matter-- and my father isn’t paying you to make idle conversation,” he added in an all-too-familiar tone. Chancellor Palpatine used a similar tone of voice to signal a discussion was at an end. 

Obi-Wan schooled his reaction. “What exactly do you think he’s paying me for?”

Triclops glanced aside, a pale blush on his cheeks. “You’re to be my... companion for the night," he said after a delicate pause. 

Obi-Wan arched a brow in mute surprise, but he remained still and silent until Triclops prompted him to speak.

"Do you have a name, or shall I give you one?" 

"Ben," Obi-Wan introduced himself. The alias rolled smoothly off his tongue.

Triclops repeated the name under his breath, pressing a button on his wrist unit. As he did so, a door at the very end of hall slid open to reveal a lavish red sitting room. Warm light spilled into the dark, narrow corridor, and Obi-Wan heard a strain of music playing from within. 

The boy started towards the door, then stopped, turning to face Obi-Wan with a polite, expectant look on his face.

"Won't you come in?"


End file.
